How to see if you have a Samsung or TSMC A9 chip in your iPhone 6s

Submitted by Jon Reed on October 18, 2015 - 1:27pm

In the wake of the so called "Chipgate," many iPhone 6s and 6s Plus owners are concerned with what brand of A9 processor powers their phones. The mostly unfounded concern arose when, a little over a week ago, some benchmarks showed that the slightly larger 16nm TSMC brand A9 chip was 20% more efficient (in terms of power consumption) than the 14nm Samsung version.

Additional testing over the past week has shown that the difference is nothing to lose sleep over. Consumer Reports concluded that Chipgate is basically nonsense akin to the overblown Bendgate affair last year. Their tests resulted in a less than 1 percent difference between the two chips. On the other hand, Ars Technica's test results did show a marked difference in one scenario. While most of their tests showed virtually no difference, their Geekbench 3 test, which puts the processors under a heavy load, resulted in the TSMC powered phone lasting 28% longer.

Apple quickly pooh-poohed the Geekbench test, saying it was "unrealistic" and "a misleading way to measure real-world battery life" (PCMag). The difference between the chips, if one even exists, is likely too small for the average user to notice, but if you are curious anyway as to what chip is powering your phone, there is a way to find out.

You will need the mellifluously named Battery Memory System Status Monitor app (which is free), as the information is not available in settings. Once you've downloaded it, open it up and go to the third tab, "System." Take a look at the model number, which is the first field under "Device." This will indicate whether you have a Samsung or TSMC chip:

N71mAP - iPhone 6s with a TSMC manufactured A9 processor

N66mAP - iPhone 6s Plus with a TSMC manufactured A9 processor

N71AP - iPhone 6s with a Samsung manufactured A9 processor

N66AP - iPhone 6s Plus with a Samsung manufactured A9 processor

Although I was mentally crossing my fingers that I had the TSMC version, it wasn't so. That said, I've been very pleased with my 6s' battery performance, and I think this whole hubbub is much ado about nothing. Let us know in the comments if you've had any serious battery issues with your 6s or 6s Plus, and what make your processor is.

Comments

This one works! Thank you! I've tried many apps to find one that would read the info but even if it had I would not of know the difference without the information you provided.
Very precise article and to the point. Well done!

I have to disagree with you on that. I'm paying a premium price for a premium device and I would like to have the premium performance. Apple is misleading the consumers when selling two technologies with different behavior. I returned my 6s and very disappointed.

I got the Samsung chip and thought it was good until my 6s plus went nuts and I had to go to apple for a replacement. My second phone got the non Samsung chip and I feel like battery lasts longer. I do simple browsing and typing on phone and it lasts all day. It may be in my head but I like this one better when it comes to battery. I guess I got lucky that my first phone went bananas.

Just got 6s yesterday, restore from backup of a pc while charging. From 100%, after I made a call for 15 minutes battery 87%. Then I spend an hour playing online game using mobile data. Only 39%left!!!
Not impressed by the battery consumption. Even my old 5s would have done better than that. Now I m considering returning the 6s. :(